Telemour
A telemour (often mispelled telamour) is a person connected through two relationship links in a polyamorous network or polycule. In other words, one partner is dating another person, who is also dating the telemour.
Put more simply:
- Metamour: A partner’s other partner.
- Telemour: A metamour’s other partner, or a partner’s partner’s partner.
Being telemours doesn’t necessarily mean two people have any relationship with each other. They might be friends, occasionally meet at polycule gatherings, know each other only by name, or never meet at all. The term simply describes where they sit in the relationship network. It also doesn’t imply that the telemour’s relationship is casual or less important. The “distance” is from the person using the term, not within the relationship itself.
Origins of the Term
The term telemour appears to have been coined by polyamory writer Page Turner on Poly.Land in 2016. Responding to a reader looking for a name for a more distant connection in a polycule, Turner suggested adding the Greek prefix tele- (“far” or “at a distance”) to the -mour pattern already used in metamour.
Before that, terms such as meta-meta and meta-metamour were sometimes used. Telemour was later picked up by other polyamory writers and glossaries.
Related Terms
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